Maiduguri — Last week, the entire Borno State was electrified as different socio-political groups rented the clime with hues and cries over the desirability and non-desirability of creating new emirates in the state.

Borno State House of Assembly was forced out of pressure to flatly reject the Executive bill laid before them by the state governor, senator Ali Modu Sheriff, who was seeking the legislators' support to empower him and any other subsequent governors with the sole powers of creating more emirates out of the existing ones in the state.

The members of the Borno public, especially tribal and socio-political groups, hailed the state Legislators for their bravery and love for their home state for throwing out an executive bill - for the first time in their life - as they said such bill could bring about the breakdown of law and order. To the various pressure groups, whose unanimous voices cut across party, religious and tribal divisions, creation of more emirates, out of the existing ones that are hitherto gasping for survival, is tantamount to spitting in the face of their history. Hence the members were warned never to pass the bill or risk 'banishment' from their respective constituencies.

But barely 48 hours after the Assembly were hailed for their heroism, the hailers were shocked to the marrow when the same members went back to the bin and scooped out the discarded bill, dusted it and summoned themselves to an emergency sitting to reconsider it.

Daily Independent gathered from reliable sources, especially from amongst the lawmakers who were totally against the bill, that the bill had been an attempt by the State Governor to make some close members of his family emirs with the creation of Ngala and Kala-Balge emirate out of the present Dikwa emirate, that all members of the Assembly were summoned to the Government House where the state governor, who had apparently facilitated their elections in 2003 and 2007, poured out his anger over their action and requested the apologetic Majority Leader to go back and re-present the bill or face stiff consequences. It was also understood that the members did not leave the government house until their respective pockets were allegedly stuffed with N5 million each. Some few members were said to have rejected the offer.

Bewildered journalists sought to know what made the lawmakers change their stance on the once rejected bill when they confronted the Speaker of the House in his office. The speaker shocked many when he denied that they ever threw out the executive bill that required them to amend the Borno state Local Government Law and empower the executive to create more emirates in the state.

According to him, what they did was that they returned the bill to the executive on the ground that a certain clause tended to usurp their legislative powers by the executive. "In the proposed amendment bill, the amendment said that we should transfer our power, legislative power to the executive, of which all members disagreed. And we said no, we should not be seen to be transferring powers to the executive. Instead we should return the bill back to the executive so that this clarification should be made before we go ahead with the bill, if at all there is the need to do so. That was what we did, we referred back the bill to the executive explaining our position, and then the executive agreed with us."

The Speaker also flatly denied ever collecting money from the State governor to lubricate the easy passage of the contentious amendment: "Of course, we had a meeting with the executive on Wednesday and that was purely what we discussed. There wasn't any element of money transfer between us and the executive in that respect. If there was any, who ever that is making such allegation should come out and give clear proofs that such money is given to us; because if money can be seen in cash, money can equally be seen on papers."

But, according to a leftist member of the Borno State House of Assembly, Umar Abacha, who represents Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, the action of the Assembly especially going back to the Assembly to pass a bill that they had thrown out 48 hours earlier is a total display of impotence by the state lawmakers.

The lawmaker said he was very much against the creation of more emirates because it was never in the interest of the people of the state, even as he vowed to oppose the bill he claimed was in the interest of some selected few. "I have already told them that I am not going to sell my conscience for whatever amount of money, much less N5 million. This bill is anti-people and it shall continue to remain so."

On Thursday, all members were summoned to an emergency sitting by the Speaker, Goni Ali Modu, where the Majority Leader. Idrissa Jidda presented the rejected executive bill to the House and a motion was moved for adjournment the next day. As early as 9am of Friday, 18 out of the 28 members of the House, including the speaker, filed into the Assembly chambers where the speaker went straight into business, and the bill was committed to first and second reading, the Assembly dissolved the committee of the whole house that lasted ten minutes, then resumed for the third reading and the bill was passed!